Aviation workers plead for recovery roadmap

Many pilots are only completing a fraction of the flights they had before Covid-19, with some being out of work for such long periods, they are having to be retrained on simulators. Picture: DAA

Unless a recovery roadmap is drawn up, the Irish aviation industry is facing mass emigration of pilots, according to Recover Irish Aviation.

The group, made up of pilots and other aviation industry workers, was formed to raise awareness of the crisis the industry is in.

Many pilots are only completing a fraction of the flights they had before Covid-19, with some being out of work for such long periods, they are having to be retrained on simulators. 

Nic Gammon is one of the founders of the organisation. He says the industry has been scapegoated for the high Covid case numbers. 

“We've now been shut down for over a year. We’re looking for a plan. So we know we can get going again,” he said.

Scraps of work

Without the regular stream of flights, many pilots have been left with scraps of work. Now, the group says, many are debating whether to leave the country in search of job opportunities.

Thomas O’Rourke, 30, has spent the past 10 years saving and training to be a pilot. He now finds himself €100,000 in debt due to the high training costs, and living in his parents' converted attic with his wife and newborn son. He is only receiving 30% of what he was paid before the lockdown.

“We're trying to get a house at the moment, but the bank won't give me a mortgage because of how uncertain the travel industry is in Ireland,” Mr O’Rourke explained. 

This has taken a toll on his mental health, and he fears he will have to emigrate.

'Living in a nightmare'

“I’m living in a nightmare,” he said, explaining  he is doing one flight every six weeks now. A harsh comparison to before the pandemic when he would have been flying two to four times a day, five days a week. 

“I don't want to leave, I don't want my son growing up in a foreign country, I want to stay here,” he added.

Kieran O’Regan, 41, is from East Cork. A pilot by trade, at the time of this interview he finds himself sitting on the back of a tractor, a different setting to the cockpit in which he has worked for the past eight years. 

“By the end of this, you will see a lot of airlines go bankrupt,” said Mr O’Regan. 

There are 750 pilots there at the moment. There may only be half that or less than half of that after this. The rest of us will have to pack our bags and go.” 

A spokesperson for the Department of Transport said it was monitoring the financial impact on the Irish aviation sector on an ongoing basis. They said that more than €200m in operational supports have already been made available under various schemes and that the Government also agreed a revised €80m funding package specifically for Irish aviation in 2021. 

However, when compared to Government supports given to airlines in other countries in Europe, which have been in the billions, the pilots do not believe this is enough to support the struggling industry.

The department spokesperson also said ministers were aware that a return to normal trading conditions is a priority for the aviation and travel industries and they continue to engage with the aviation sector. 

This includes a special meeting of the Steering Committee of the National Civil Aviation Development Forum (NCADF), which took place on March 5.